Kerrie A Pezzo

‘Weekend Warriors’: Re-enactors, Living Historians,
National Narratives and the Value of ‘Authenticity’ in the US and UK

Those in public archaeology and heritage management
will be familiar with re-enactors and living historians: the volunteer ‘weekend
warriors’ who appear at various archaeological/historical/heritage sites on
weekends and bank holidays, dressed in period clothing and doing their best to
demonstrate to the public ways of life that no longer exist. My research will
look to examine modern (re)constructions of the past by volunteer re-enactors
and living historians in the US and UK through qualitative and inductive
research (primarily interviews) at different re-enactment events in each
country. The study will focus on three historical time periods: the period from
the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD to the Norman conquest at the Battle of
Hastings in 1066 (UK), the Lace Wars period of the French and Indian War and
the American Revolution (US) and the American Civil War (US & UK). The first two periods will look at periods of
national foundation and change in each country while the American Civil War as
one of the most popular periods for re-enactment in the US and UK, will offer a
basis for comparison between the two. It is my hope that this qualitative
approach will lend insight into both what brings individuals into the hobby,
what motivates them to stay and what drives the choices they make in research
and presentation, all the while looking at how they construct their
interpretations of the historical past through their understanding of the
complicated and occasionally controversial idea of ‘authenticity’.